........In a nutshell, Dr. King was a minister who led a very important Civil Rights Movement in this country. Dr. King's birthday is celebrated in the United States on January 17th, which is a Monday this year.

You said that you've already done research, but here's another web site that might be useful. Good luck on your paper.

Hi N@d&a...

It appears you hail from Pueblo. I'm interested in how old you are (i.e. what grade level in school) and where you originally hail from. Dr. King was, and still is a very important figure in recent American History. It might help us provide you with more meaningful information if we have a better idea of where you are starting from.

Well I´m from Puebla it is a city that is next to Mexico city and my new English Teacher is from Chicago and she was the one who let us the assignment and the thing was that I didn´t understand the meaning of the Holyday

Anyway Thanks for helping me

oh! and I´m 16 and I´m in (I´m not sure of how you call it) 10 grade I guess

Nad&a congrats on learning about Dr. King. He is an important figure in American history. We can all learn a great deal about tolerance from Dr. King. It is a holiday here and there is no school tomorrow. There are also celebrations of his life and teachings at schools, churches, and civic organizations. Good luck with your assignment.

Most businesses do not observe MLK's birthday. The only people who I know have the holiday are government employees, banks and the people to my company. Every one else I know has to work tommorrow.

I think more companies in NYC observe it.

I think more is done during February, which is Black History Month. There seem to be very little media observances - i.e. no specials featuring MLK, whereas in February many television stations will feature many famous people in history, including MLK.

He was, like Gandhi, a strong proponent of peaceful resistance, which made his assassination ironic, as well as tragic. He also was a great orator, but I am sure that the sites people listed here will include some of his more famous speeches and letters.

Also, as others have said, there is not so much media coverage of his holiday, and there are few businesses who consider it a holiday, despite it's "National holiday" status. And I recall when first it was made a National holiday, there were some states, like Arizona I recall, that still did not recognize it.

I used to work for HP/ Agilent, and we had a day off for MLK day.
Then we were bought off by Philips, and they replaced MLK with Good Friday, which made me quite angry as I, not being Christian, couldn't care less about the Good Friday. MLK, on the other hand, applies to everyone.

Anyway, one thing that struck me as I was reading MLK's letters from jail is his forsight and wisdom. For instance, he was quite critical of the radical element within the African American community, and warned that if the blacks did not get their basic rights fast, the radical element will gain the upper hand to the detriment of the whole the black and the white communities. Too often today he is made into this almost caroonish figure, which in life I feel he was far more complex.

BTW, Nadine, if you recall Anissina & Peizerat's 2002 Olympic program, they used a tape of a speech - that was the famous MLK's "I have a dream" speech.